He may not have achieved much on the climate front in his first
term in office, but unlike Mitt Romney, Obama does at least seem to
understand the extent of the threat posed by climate change to
human wellbeing and survival. And - athough constrained by
the Senate and political will on the ground - is likely to make
more progress on emissions reductions or at least have a better
chance of it than Romney.

At the same time, PwC's
recent report finds that we need deep reductions in carbon
intensity of 5.1% per year to 2050 - over six times greater than
the 0.8 per cent average annual cuts achieved since 2000 - to avoid
dangerous climate change, which will be a real challenge for even
the most committed nations.

And all the while, fossil fuel companies such as ExxonMobil are
funding pseudoscience that will help to keep the public in a state
of doubt and confusion for a few years longer so their profits
aren't compromised. The libertarian US Cato Institut based in
Washington, DC, recently published its new report, Addendum: Global
Climate Change Impacts in the United States, - and it is
designed to look just like the U.S. government’s official
2009 National Climate Assessment:

This was presented to Congress in 2009 as the federal
government's best single evaluation of the science and potential
impacts of climate change. Eleven authors of the original
government report wrote a recent letter protesting what they
called the “deceptive and misleading” Cato report:

“The Cato report is in no way an addendum to our 2009
report. It is not an update, explanation, or supplement by
the authors of the original report. Rather, it is a
completely separate document lacking rigorous scientific analysis
and review.”

The Union of Concerned Scientists' 2007 report,
Smoke, Mirrors, and Hot Air, detailed ExxonMobil’s
campaign to use front groups to fund misinformation about climate
change. They documented that Michaels was affiliated with no fewer
than eleven groups funded by ExxonMobil. Two of the
six-member author team on this new Cato report were also
highlighted in their 2007 report - Robert Balling was affiliated
with no fewer than five “front groups” funded by ExxonMobil.